A Crafter's Dream Ch. 72: A Family Reunion (Part 1)
Now, without further ado, I present,
“A Crafter’s Dream”
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Crunch!
Steve pulled his axe away, back-pedaling as the tree in front of him began to sway. After a moment, it began to fall directly towards him.
Circle: Dodge
The Crafter rolled to the side, the massive tree slamming into the ground where he’d been standing only moments before. Smirking, he approached the fallen log, ready to cut it down to size.
“Is woodcutting always this dangerous for you?” Dash spoke up from a nearby tree stump where she sat, looking at the Crafter with a concerned expression. “Cause if you made one wrong step, that thing would’ve crushed you flat.”
“True, but what’s life without a little risk?” Steve replied. “Besides, even though I’ve been here for so long, I’m still not used to the trees falling.”
“What do you mean?”
Steve shrugged. “Well, back home, most of the terrain didn’t give two shits about gravity. The only exceptions were sand, red sand, anvils, gravel, and concrete powder. Back then, when I cut down trees they didn’t fall. They just kinda, floated, I guess.”
“...Floated?”
“Yeah. Sure, it’s kinda weird when you think about it, but it made building pretty much anything easy in comparison to how you guys build here, seeing as buildings here require some form of support, while back home, they didn’t, unless you were working with concrete powder or something along those lines.” Steve shrugged as he looked down at the wood log in his hand. “Though for some reason, when I take blocks from this world and modify them by crafting with them, or even just collecting them, they seem to adhere to my world’s rules, which includes them giving gravity the middle finger.” He glanced over at Dash. “Which I’m glad for, because otherwise I’d have no idea how to build my house. Not without some help, at least.”
Rainbow Dash looked at the Crafter with a blank expression. “...No offense Steve, but your world sounds really bucking weird.”
He shrugged. “Well, depends on how you look at it. I thought this world was pretty weird when I first got here, but that was because I was so used to my world. We didn’t have magic like you guys do here, we didn’t have to deal with manticores, or timberwolves, or anything like that. Sure, we had our fair share of monsters, but they were very different from what you guys deal with here. If anyone from this world were to go to my world, it’d be a similar story.”
“True.” Dash agreed. “Still, it’s strange to think about a world where magic doesn’t really exist.”
“Well,I mean, magic existed.” Steve spoke. “We just didn’t use it in the same way that you guys do here.”
“Well, how did you use it then?” She asked, looking at the Crafter with a confused expression on her face.
“Well, enchantments and potions, mostly.” Steve lifted the axe in his hands, looking at the blade as it glowed with a bluish-purple light. “For example, my axe is currently enchanted with Efficiency two, and Unbreaking three. Efficiency means that it will destroy stuff faster, and Unbreaking means it’ll last longer before breaking.”
“Huh. And I’m guessing it’s these, uh, enchantments, that makes it glow, right?”
“Yep.”
“So, are your sword and bow also enchanted? Because from what I remember, I think they glowed too.”
“Yeah. I make sure to keep all of the diamond gear that I use enchanted.”
“Why your diamond gear?” Dash inquired
“Because back home, diamonds were exceptionally rare, rarer than anything else, except for emeralds. In fact, at one point, the mountain kingdom Aetherpeak attacked my home, Ironwood, because of them.”
“They what?!” Dash exclaimed in shock. “Why?”
“Because we had something they wanted. You see, the king at the time, King Norman, had made some kinda shady, but very lucrative deals with some very powerful people. As a result, Ironwood accumulated quite a bit of resources, including diamonds. Aetherpeak saw Ironwood’s increasing wealth, and wanted it for themselves. So they attacked. What followed would later be called “The Diamond Wars,” even though it was only technically one war. It was the first war that I know of where Minecraftians fought one another, and coincidentally, it was also the first war I ever fought in.”
“You fought in it?”
He nodded. “Yeah. When Ironwood asked for volunteers to serve, I was one of the first to sign up.”
“Why?” Dash asked, confused.
Steve put a hand to his chin in thought, mulling over his answer. Eventually, after a few minutes, he spoke. “Well, I suppose it was because of why they attacked Ironwood. Like, they were willing to kill other Crafters to get what they wanted. That didn’t sit right with me, so I signed up.” Steve lifted his axe and walked over to a nearby tree. He went to work, bringing the axe up before slamming it down into the trunk, causing cracks to appear. A couple of swings later, the tree began to sway, managing to stay upright for a few moments before falling opposite to where Steve stood, plummeting to the ground with a loud crash. Steve continued.
“I was assigned to the 23rd platoon. There were about 30 of us, I’d say, and it was only a couple months before we were trained and sent off to combat. Now, the basic training they put us through wasn’t half bad, and it taught us all a lot. However, there’s a few things that they didn’t tell us. For example, they neglected to inform us on just how painful it is to get shot by an Harming-tipped arrow. They didn’t tell us what to do if one of us got their arm or leg blown off. They didn’t tell us how to deal with the screams, the blood. They didn’t tell us about what to do when your best friend dies right next to you. When you see the light leave his eyes, and you see his body go limp. They didn’t tell us about how to deal with the nightmares afterwards, or how to-” Steve stopped himself before he went any further, instead letting out a heavy sigh. “They didn’t tell us, but we learned, the hard way. We had to. Because if we didn’t, well…” The Crafter gave a small shrug. “We died.” He reaffirmed his grip on the axe before lifting it up and slamming it back down into the trunk. Small chunks of wood flew as large cracks once again appeared where he’d struck.
Silence overtook the two, Steve silently cutting the fallen tree into logs while Dash watched from nearby with a downcast expression on her face.
Eventually, the prismatic mare spoke up. “...What happened?”
Steve stopped his work for a moment to look at his companion. “We won, obviously, otherwise I probably wouldn’t be standing here. Eventually, Aetherpeak couldn’t keep up the fight anymore, and they were forced to surrender. When they did, we…” Steve hesitated for a moment, pursing his lips as he grimaced. A small look of shame overcame his features. “We killed their king, King Aaron, and then burned their capital kingdom to the ground. Destroyed pretty much everything and everyone inside.”
Rainbow Dash gaped at him, expression clearly shocked. “You what? Why?”
He shrugged, shaking his head sadly. “We had orders, Dash. Orders we had to follow.”
“But… didn’t you say anything? Do anything? Like, I know that they were bad and all, but they had surrendered. Did they really deserve, that?”
Steve didn’t respond for a few moments. When he did, it was in a low voice. “No Dash. They didn’t.”
“Then why? What did they do that warranted killing them after they’d surrendered?”
At her question, memories immediately began to flash through the Crafter’s head. He was running through the forest. It was dark. His heart was pounding. He cut through the tall grass. There were voices around him. He couldn’t understand what they were saying. His arm hurt, a sharp pain running through it with every step. Suddenly, an explosion, not far away. It was loud and powerful. Shock. Fear. Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe. Gone. She’s gone. Whywhywhycantbreathewhygonegonewhyshes-
LILLY!!!!!!!!!!!
‘Steve!’
“Steve!”
The Crafter gasped and stumbled back, accidentally tripping over his own feet and sending him to the ground, the landing nearly knocking the air out of him. Coughing, he rolled over onto his side, trying to get his breath back.
“Steve, are you alright?!” Dash yelled, suddenly right by his side. The Crafter cough a few more times, then took in a shaky breath as he nodded.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.” He coughed once more, then got back to his feet, wiping his mouth with an arm.
“What was that? When I was talking, you suddenly got this far off look in your eyes. Then, you started mumbling really fast. I had to shout your name a couple times before you finally snapped out of it.”
Steve groaned as he shook his head. “It’s, ugh, it’s nothing. Just… Bad memories.”
The mare winced. “Sorry, Steve.” She muttered.
The Crafter shook his head. “No, it wasn’t your fault. You asked a legitimate question. Why didn’t I do anything? Well, the answer is this.” He sighed. “The truth is I didn’t want to help them. I didn’t care about what happened to them. As far as I was concerned at the time, they’d gotten what they deserved.”
“But… but why? What did they do? Because, from what I know about you Steve, you never do anything without good reason. So, what happened?”
For a while, Steve didn’t respond, instead staring at the ground as he thought. Eventually, he did speak.
“Her name was Lilly. And she was the love of my life.”
Taking a deep breath, he looked up to meet Dash’s gaze. “They took her from me. It was because of them that she died. That’s why I didn’t care about what happened to them. Yes, I know it was wrong, and I shouldn’t have blamed an entire kingdom for the actions for a small few, but damn it, at that moment I didn’t give a fuck.” Gritting his teeth, he let out a sigh as he closed his eyes. After taking a few deep breaths, he opened them again. “Look, Dash, I’m not proud of what I did. If I could go back and change it, I would, but I can’t. The only thing I can do is move on, and try to be better.”
Dash looked at the Crafter with a sympathetic gaze. “Steve, I get it. After all, I kinda know what it’s like to make horrible mistakes that caused somepony else to suffer.” She winced slightly, but continued. “So, if you want to talk about it, I’ll be there to listen, if you want.”
There was silence for a moment.
Then, Steve gave a small grin. “Thank you Dash. Though, I think talking about it should wait till after we’re out of the Everfree, hmm?”
The prismatic mare chuckled. “Yeah. Probably.”
Nodding, Steve turned and began walking towards his axe, which he’d accidentally dropped on the ground. However, just as he reached over to pick it up, Onyx spoke up.
‘Steve, there are several strange auras approaching your location.’
The Crafter immediately stood up straight, looking around for any signs of whatever it was the Nightmare was talking about.
‘Do you know what they are?’ Steve inquired.
‘I’m… Not completely sure. But they do appear to be hostile, Steve. Be careful.’
D-Pad Up: Sword
‘Got it.’ He replied as he unsheathed his blade.
“Steve? What’s up?” Dash asked in concern upon seeing Steve with his sword in hand. The Crafter looked at her, expression serious.
“Somethings coming, Dash. Be careful, and don’t-”
Suddenly, Steve’s instincts flared up, warning him of danger from behind.
‘Move!’ Onyx yelled.
Circle: Block
Steve whirled around while simultaneously putting his blade in front of his chest. All he could see was a black shape shooting towards him before slamming into his blade. The force of the blow knocked Steve off of his feet.
Damage Received - 2 damage. 18 health remaining.
Groaning, he got back up, sword at the ready. “Dash, get out of here!!” He yelled as several more of the shadowy forms began flying around. However, instead of doing the smart thing and running, the mare didn’t move.
“No! I can help you!” She argued.
Circle: Dodge
“Dammit Rainbow, now is not the time to be stubborn!” He retorted, hastily dodging another attack. Dash leapt forward, narrowly avoiding one of the shadows. “Leave!”
“I-!”
Before she could finish, all of the shadows suddenly soared upwards before slamming into the ground, creating a huge wall of wispy black that surrounded Steve and Rainbow Dash on all sides, the resulting force knocking them both to the ground.
Damage Received - 1 damage. 17 health remaining.
Groaning, Steve got back to his feet as he looked around, finding that they were trapped.
‘Onyx, you got anything on what the fuck is going on?! What are these things!?’
‘I think, I know what they are.’ Onyx replied, his voice suddenly sounding frightened. As he spoke, several dark figures slowly walked out of the shadows, like they were materializing from it.
Their eyes glowed white.
“Nightmares.” Steve whispered, eyes wide.
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YOU CLIFF HANGING MOTHER FUCKER!
Next chapter is gonna be good.
10057624
I hope so. The one year anniversery is next week
10057626
IT'S BEEN A YEAR ALREADY!?!?!?
Goddamn and to think I found this story completely by accident one year ago.
10057629
Yep! Published Feb 3rd, 2019. One year past, and this story is still going strong!!
10057633
Well here's hoping for another great year to come.
Oh come on...
10057738
What?
10057745
The cliffhanger, dude. The no-good, goddamn cliffhanger.
10057749
Look, I fairly certain the cliff-hangers are the only thing keeping most of my readers here.
10057751
True that. It also leaves them on the edge of their seat, so much so they fall to the floor with their drink in hand.
Like it happened to me.
10057754
Well, good to know that I'm at least doing something right.
10057749
you cannot blame him. The golden CF is like the trademark holy grail of all storytelling. Most stories have them. It is also the test of "is this story shit or not" bc if it is good (or at least decent) people will care enough to return. If it sucks no cliffhanger in the world will bring them back meaning it's a pile of hot shit. Considering you and I are STILL here... you decide which category this story clearly falls into.
Not sure if anyone has said this, but Steve in the cover art looks like Chris Hemsworth
10057809
No one is blaming anyone, and yes, I know where this story falls in. Otherwise I wouldn't be reading it.
10057811
Huh. Now that you mentioned it.
Now that is some *insert minecraft oof*
Hmm, how much you want to bet this is a Misunderstanding? Resulting from Onyx?
.......Oh Luna damn it, there is a Nightmare Kingdom isn’t there?
10058189
Uh....... Kinda?
You'll find out.
Ooooooof
In the chat
Yep that sums up Minecraft physics up real nice
10057945
You mean Robloxian OOF right?
You and your CLIFFHANGERS!
Dammit, I knew Steve's Nightmare wasn't the only Nightmare, I was wondering about the others who came with Steve to face Herobrine might have gotten Nightmares too.
10057751
tHaT iS tRuE...
Use a little fuel myself and